Nuts About Sketches Birthday Celebrations - sketch #1

Good Saturday morning to you all!

Nuts About Sketches is celebrating it's 3rd birthday this week, and in honour of the event, Shawn has produced a new sketch to reveal every single day this week, starting today!! And, in addition to that, The Scrapping Spot has generously provided one of their May kits as a prize! To be in with a chance of winning, you just need to play along with us this week. All the details are on the Nuts About Sketches blog!

This is the layout I made for the reveal. This is a photo of Tom at a playpark in Mission Bay, Auckland. I still can't believe that I have anything left to scrap of our trip to New Zealand in 2007, especially as I did over 40 pages for the 2 albums I have, but I still find the odd photo....

Anyone who was at the Hopeman crop a couple of weeks back will probably recognise this page - it was the one I spent over half the crop handstitching on!! It seemed like a good idea at the time...

I used Fancy Pants "My Family" collection throughout and just added a few buttons as embellishments. The title is cut from Bazzill cardstock using Sizzlit Nouveau alphabet dies in my Cuttlebug. 

Be sure to check out what the rest of the DT have been up to, and check back tomorrow as I have another layout reveal for sketch #2....

TTFN

xxxx

Nuts About Sketches #158 - 3 2 1 Go

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! Back to normal for us today, kids are back in school after their extended weekend, although they have another short week this week. They are out of school again Thursday until Tuesday, due to the extra bank holiday here in the UK for the Royal Wedding, and then it's May Day holiday on Monday. Throw in an extra days holiday decided by the school, and it's another short week and long weekend...

Anyways, Mondays mean time for a new sketch by Shawn over at Nuts About Sketches, and this week it is a beauty!! I get all excited when I see circles on a sketch, so I loved this sketch right from the start!

And here is my layout...

For a long time I have wanted to start scrapping photos of Mark that relate to his Military career. I always have trouble with this, and also trouble with then sharing them on my blog.  I always have the "national security" thing in the back of my mind - if I told you I'd have to shoot you type of thing LOL. But I do know that I need to get these types of photo scrapped, and get him to give me some stories for them. It is a shame that for the majority of his career, he has never really taken photos of where he has been. Cameras were not encouraged. Maybe it's just a bloke thing, as when they had a girl join the crew, she always took a camera. So I do have shots of him on detachment, and I even have a few of him in a warzone. But not alot really to show for his 20 year career. He's said it himself that its a shame. We've had conversations with friends that have left who lament the lack of photographs they have. Maybe it's a British thing. Or maybe it's just the Nimrod Aircrew mentality. But I am heading off on a tangent here....

These photographs were taken while Mark was on an Exchange trip to New Zealand - called Longlook. This is where member of the RNZAF and the RAAF swap places with people from the RAF for 4 months. Mark swapped places with a young guy called Marmite (actually his name was Simon) who was based on 5 Sqn at Whenuapai airbase just outside of Auckland. During his trip, he did lots of sightseeing, and the occasion flight with work... There were a group of Longlookers staying in the mess, so they used to organise trips out. This was one of thier excursions - a trip to the Agrodome in Rotorua. Home of some of the most bizarre adventure rides you could imagine. And I know, cos I went there too on our trip out there and rolled down a hill in a large inflatable ball...  But this ride was called Swoop. You get strapped into sleeping bags, hoisted up 40 metres into the air, and then it is up to you to pull the rip cord to set the thing in motion.  Someone on the ground took these photos of Mark and one of his companions as Mark pulled the ripcord.

I pulled out one of my few remaining sheets of Scenic Route paper for this layout, one which had strips of different patterns on the one sheet. I used Spellbinders nestabilities to cut out my circles, and then painted some raw BasicGrey chipboard numbers for the title.

Hop on over to the blog to see what the other girls have been creating this week, they are such a talented bunch, that you cannot help to be inspired by them - I know I am!
We are all working hard on the birthday week sketches too, and Shawn posted a sneaky peek of the kit that she has up for grabs if you join in and play along with us that week. It looks amazing!! I hope you will join us for the week of fun and sketches...

TTFN


xxxx

Nuts About Sketches #157 - Rockpools

Happy Monday to you all!! Monday means a new sketch over at Nuts About Sketches. Shawn created another great 2 page sketch for this week, and I took the left hand side of it to make my layout for the reveal.



These are photos I took at Hopeman beach in the summer of 2006, when my parents and sister came to visit. Mark was on deployment in the Middle East, so it was nice to have some company while he was gone. We spent a day down at the beach at Hopeman, looking in the rock pools. The kids had not done it before, and had brand new nets. Dad spent ages staring into the pools to see if he could spy any creatures lurking about. I remember him doing that with us when we were kids - we all loved rock pools! It seems odd to me now, looking at the photos, as this is now our local beach, and we could go there every day if we wanted to. Back then, it was a day trip!! We still love the rock pools, and nowadays we remember to take buckets as well as nets, so the kids can compare their finds!

I decided to get the sewing machine a run out with this layout - I love me a bit of zigzag stitch!! I used papers from the BasicGrey Recess collection, and my trusty kraft cardstock. I used some white chalk ink to lighten the area behind the title and the journalling, and the buttons are PaperMania ones.

I promised you some more information on the Nuts About Sketches 3rd birthday celebrations.... To celebrate the occasion, we are having a week long sketch-a-thon - Shawn has designed 7 fabulous sketches, one for each day, starting on April 30th and ending on May 6th. We will also be having our usual Monday sketch on top of that, so in all, we will be bringing you 8 new sketches!!!  I have seen the sketches, and I must say that Shawn has outdone herself, they are fantastic!! I am itching to get started on them, it's a good job that the kids are back in school today!!!

TTFN


xxxx

Just a quickie post....

....today! I have been at a crop today with the lovely local ladies, some who scrapbook and some who make cards and have the most amazing Copic/ProMarker skills! It was great to catch up on the local gossip, and eat some yummy homebakes!

Nothing to show you today, but a quick share. Hop over to Sketch Support where you may find a couple of things made by a certain someone.....

I'll be back tomorrow with my latest layout for Nuts About Sketches and some news about their 3rd birthday celebrations!

TTFN


xxxx

Happy birthday....

... to my not so little girl. Jemma is 12 today, 12 years that have flown by in the blink of an eye. She spent her day shopping, and swimming, and now has a friend over for a sleepover. However, her main party is Saturday, when 3 of her friends are coming out for a meal, and then sleeping over...

This is the card I made for her birthday. Jemma has taken a shine to baking just recently, so I thought I would make her a paper cupcake! I used 2 sketches from Sketch Support for this card - Card sketch #5 and Add-on sketch #3.

I used up scraps from BasicGrey Recess collection, and the "frosting" of the cupcake uses Scenic Route scraps. I scored kraft cardstock with my Hougie board to make the cupcake base, and the border is punched with a Martha Stewart punch. I cut the circles for the "frosting" were cut using my circle Nestabilities. The sentiment stamp is by Personal Impressions, and the foam numbers are American Crafts Thickers. I added some Frosted Lace Stickles to the cupcake to add extra frostiness!!

Jemma loved the card, and had a great day. She is already counting the days til her next brithday, although I know I am not that keen for her to be a teenager as quickly as she is....

TTFN


xxxx

Nuts About Sketches # 156 - Two Monkeys

Monday morning again, and time for another sketch from Shawn over at Nuts About Sketches. This weeks sketch is a one pager, and I mixed it up a little bit this week by converting the 12x12 sketch into a 8.5 x 11 page. The sketch called for a 5x7 photo, and seeing as I am predominately a 4x6 photo scrapper, I don't have many 5x7's around! I thought a 4x6 would be more suited to a 8.5 x 11 page, as it wouldn't look so "lost"...



Anyway... The photo is of Jemma, aged 3 and a half, and a Barbary ape (or a Barbary Macaque to give him his proper name). These are the monkeys that live on the Rock of Gibraltar. They tend to stay on the upper part of the rock, and there are feeding areas where fresh fruit and vegetables are given to the monkeys twice a day. Sometimes the monkeys venture down into the town, but this is very rare. When we lived there I think I saw a monkey in the town once. They are happy up on the slopes, and love the attention from visitors - although we were warned that they can be a bit cheeky, and anything that looked like food would be swiped by them. We never let the kids have a juice bottle or food or even a pacifier on them when we took a trip up the rock, as it was too tempting for the monkeys! I remember seeing one monkey pinch a carrier bag from an unsuspecting tourist, who had just bought some goodies from the nearby souvenir shop, and proceed to take it up a tree and tip it out to see what there was to eat...
The kids loved going to see the monkeys, and the cable car ride that we needed to take to get there.

This was a great sketch for using up scraps! All the papers were from my scraps folder, and I love mixing and matching colours and manufacturers. Using red and aqua is one of my favourite colour combos, although I usually pair it with a white background. This time I continued my latest trend of using Kraft with everything...
I used a "new to me" product on this layout. Last week, I ordered a Grab Box from Sarah's Cards Ltd. The contents are a real lucky dip - you don't know what you are going to get, and each one is different. In my grab box, there was a felt fusion border from Queen & Co, and I knew I wanted to use it on this layout. I like how it matches my Doodlebug alphabet stickers!! A few stars were called for, seeing as Jemma had her "Star" hoodie on (I loved that hoodie, she did too).

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Patterned Papers: Making Memories, My Mind's Eye, October Afternoon

Alphabet Stickers: Doodlebug

Felt trim: Queen & Co

Punch: Kars

Chipboard: Maya Road

Buttons: PaperMania

Paint: Making Memories

Glitter glue: Rangers Stickles

Pen: Signo uniball

*****

Well, I have survived the first week of the school holidays, along with a long week at work. Looking forward to a few days off this week, and Jemma's birthday on Wednesday. Her party is on Saturday - tea out at Scribbles and a sleepover with 3 of her friends.... I am hoping to get a bit more crafting done this week, as last week was a real struggle to get any time in my room at all!!

TTFN

xxxx

Sassy Lil' Sketches 7th April Reveal!!

It's time for another great sketch over at Sassy Lil' Sketches - Cherie excels herself every month, she is always giving us fantastic sketches to work with!!

This month we have some great sponsors, offering up some lovely prizes for grabs.

Our  layout paper sponsor this month is Crop Stop!

And our layout digi sponsor this month is....

Digi Doodle Shop

As always, we have great card sketches over at the Sassy Lil' Sketches Card blog, and their sponsor this month is...



The Crafter's Workshop

This is my layout this month...

This is Jemma doing a front flip on our trampoline. She practised every day last summer until she could do a flip and land on her feet... I thought they matched the sketch perfectly.

Please head over to the blogs to see what the other DT girls have been creating, and I hope you play along with us this month for a chance to win some goodies from our sponsors!

TTFN


xxxx

P.S. I was honoured to have last months SLS layout featured on Nikki Sivils blog on Monday, along with another of my fellow Sassies Nancy. Thanks again to Nikki, for being such a generous sponsor last month! 

Nuts About Sketches #155 - Dig

Monday morning, and it's time for a new sketch over at Nuts About Sketches. This weeks sketch is a two-pager, but I chose to do a one page layout using the right hand side of the sketch.



More photos from our holiday to Turkey, and more aqua and yellow colour schemes...but it just screams summer to me, plus Tom wore his aqua 50 spf t-shirt for the majority of the holiday...  No matter how crowded the beach is, the guys just love to make a sandcastle, or dig a big hole.

I was pleased with myself for using up scraps on this layout, the only whole sheet I used was the kraft cardstock background. Everything else is a leftover from something else. I made some lollipop flowers as accents, using 3 Nestabilities circle dies and a brad. I did some handstitching as well, using Bazzill Basics InStitchz templates.

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Patterned Paper: Echo Park, Jillibean Soup

Alphabet stickers: American Crafts

Buttons and brads: Source unknown

Border Punch: Martha Stewart

Please feel free to head over to the NAS blog to see what the rest of the DT girls have been creating, I can guarantee that you will be inspired!

TTFN

xxxx

Me & You

Things have been a little quiet here craft wise this week. The old mojo has had a little holiday, and I have not been feeling myself. But, I got back into my craft room and finished off a layout I started last week, using sketch #12 from Get Your Sketch On.



The photo is from a trip to Landmark, and is a rare photo - one of me and the kids, and also a photo of me that I actually like - a very rare photo indeed!

I went to town with my distressing tool, my pokey tool, and a needle and embroidery thread on this layout. Maybe a little too over enthusiastic with the handstitching...!!! I really had fun playing on this page - I got to ink up some stamps, I used a SVG cut file to make a flower, did a bit of handcutting and a spot of doodling. Just what the Doctor ordered! The heart stamp was a challenge prize from my fellow Sassy Pia - it is from a Swedish stamp company called Reprint. I love it!

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Patterned Paper: BasicGrey, Echo Park

Stamps: PaperTrey Ink, Reprint

Ink: Memento, Colorbox

Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts

Button: source unknown

Thread: DMC

SVG file: Laina Lamb

I am hoping that my mojo is back to stay for a bit - I have a pile of sketches that I am dying to use, plus a new sketch blog that I want to check out - Once Upon a ...Sketch. So many sketches, so little time...!!!

TTFN

xxxx